The Loyal Groom (Groom 1)

“True. But I think Rosy’s pussy is probably pretty great.” Allison looks like she’s thinking it over, and I roll my eyes.

“That’s enough,” Lindsey says, and Amber whispers something to Allison about agreeing with her. “You look great.” Lindsey fixes my tie and brushes her hands over my shirt to smooth out any wrinkles.

“Thanks for coming.” I stare nervously at the door of the courthouse, regretting the decision to meet Rosy here. We should have come together, but she said she wanted her dress to be a surprise.

Lindsey looks at me for a long moment until my eyes meet hers. “I wouldn’t have missed this for anything.” Her voice is solemn as she grips my shoulder tight. “You’re the best of us, and I’m proud of the man you’ve become.” I see tears build in her eyes as she nods at me. “You’re good, Darian, and you’ll be good to our Rosy.”

“Did you think you could go and get married without us?” Amber scoffs as she crosses her arms. “I’m not missing my chance for cake.”

“Is there cake?” Allison looks around, and a smile tugs at my lips.

“I’ve got the diner for the night,” Lindsey tells me with a shrug. “It’s our gift to you. It’s not much, but we planned a little dinner, and I made a cake.”

“Seriously?” I’m so overwhelmed with gratitude for my sister as I reach out and pull her into a hug. She’s shorter than me now, and her head barely comes above my shoulder. “Thank you.”

“Are any of them coming?” Amber asks, and we all know she means Rosy’s family.

I release Lindsey, and she shakes her head. “I don’t think so.”

We knew this would happen, but I can’t imagine that Rosy is taking it well. When they found out our junior year of college that Rosy and I were living together, they cut her off financially. Luckily she had enough left in her trust to pay for school, and they couldn’t touch it. But by the time we graduated, the money was gone, and we were finished with our degrees.

We got a one-bedroom studio apartment last week after living with Lindsey for a few months. We had to save up for the deposit with the money I get from interning at the biometrics lab. They wouldn’t hire me right away even with recommendation letters from my professors and graduating with honors. The only way to get my foot in the door was to go in as an intern or to move across the country. Rosy and I didn’t want to entertain that option because we knew my family couldn’t come with us, and we didn’t want to be that far from them.

Rosy got her degree in finance thinking it would be easy to get a job, but her father has made it impossible to get an interview. He’s friends with almost every influential bank owner in town, and they’ve all but blackballed her until she leaves me. I knew they would try to keep us apart, but I didn’t know they would make it this hard.

Right now Rosy is waiting tables at the diner Lindsey now manages, and the money isn’t terrible. I just hate that she has to work so hard for so little when I’m supposed to be taking care of her.

The lab I’m working at has so much potential that I know all I need to do is work hard and I’ll get us where we want to go. It’s just going to take time. In the meantime, we’re saving every penny and doing what we can to make ends meet. Which is why we’re getting married on a Wednesday at the city courthouse instead of having the wedding Rosy deserves.

I didn’t tell her that before I asked her to marry me, I called her father. When I told him my intentions, he said he never wanted to speak to either of us ever again and that we’d ruined his good name. He hung up before I could form a response, so I let it go and never said a word to her.

We didn’t have money for a ring, but when I asked Rosy to marry me, she barely let me finish the sentence before she was jumping on top of me. So here we are, without rings, and me in my work clothes as I wait for my bride to arrive.

“She’s here,” Amber says after she looks out the window and then moves into place at the front.

Rosy asked the twins to be her bridesmaids, and I asked Lindsey to be my best man. As the doors open at the end of the aisle and I see Rosy standing there in a simple white dress holding a bunch of daffodils, my heart swells. It doesn’t matter that we can’t afford better, because the way she’s looking at me is enough. Our love is enough.